All Our Yesterdays

Terrill, Cristin. All Our Yesterdays. 2013. 360p. ISBN 1423176375. FIC TER on the library shelves.

Em has been imprisoned in a secret military facility with her friend Finn for the last four months. The director and the doctor are torturing her and Finn so she will reveal the location of a series of mathematical equations necessary for the Cassandra project, a time travel device located on-site. Alone in her cell, with Finn’s voice next door, Em has more than enough time to consider unlikely means of escape. She is fascinated by the drain in the middle of her cell, not knowing what it is for.

When she manages to steal a spoon and unscrews the cover of the drain, she discovers a letter she wrote to herself, with the 16 different ways in which she and Finn have travelled back in time and tried to stop Cassandra, from stealing the plans to killing the engineer in charge of the project. On this 17th try, the only thing they haven’t tried is kill the doctor, the man who created and designed Cassandra. So now they must escape and travel back four years to eliminate him.

Marina has been in love with James Shaw ever since she moved next door to his D.C. mansion when she was six. A boy genius with an I.Q. off the charts, James has always been awkward around her, and she’s never known whether he loves her back as a sister or more. She’s invited to attend a fundraiser where Nate Shaw, James’ brother and a Congressman from Connecticut will speak along with the Vice-President.

But when Nate is shot, Marina’s world collapses around her. James goes into a tailspin, and threatens to break apart at the seam. An attempt is made on James’ life at the hospital where Nate is being treated, and Marina thinks she recognizes the assailants as older versions of herself and James’ friend Finn. The two timelines intersect, and the race is on to stop the doctor’s plans before they come to fruition.

Out of the Easy

Sepetys, Ruta. Out of the Easy. 2013. 346p. ISBN 978-0-399-25692-9. FIC SEP on the library shelves. This book has been nominated for a Flume Award in 2015.

On the eve of 1950, Josie had everything going against her. The daughter of a prostitute, she joined Willie’s house at a tender age as a jill of all trades, cleaning, cooking, and making Willie’s drinks. Josie’s treacherous mother steals from her and frequents violent men more interested in getting in Josie’s pants than caring for her. Residing in New Orleans, the Big Easy and the cesspool of corruption, organized crime, and prostitution, Josie sees no escape out of a miserable life.

Her life changes dramatically, however, when Forrest Hearne, a handsome man from Tennessee walks in the bookshop where she works and purchases two books. Josie admires his nice watch, and adds him to the list of whom she would have liked as a father, since she never knew him.

That same day, the last one in 1949, Josie meets Charlotte, who is visiting her aunt and uncle in New Orleans. A student at Smith College, Charlotte and Josie hit it off immediately, and Charlotte invite both her and Patrick to a New Year’s Eve celebration at her uncle’s house. During that evening, Charlotte convinces Josie that she should apply at Smith and join her in Northampton.

Hearne’s death at a bar on New Year’s Eve is followed by Josie finding his watch under her mother’s bed at Willie’s brothel. Was her mother and her no-good boyfriend involved in his death? Will Smith College accept her, and, if it does, how will she come up with the $2,000 she will need to pay tuition and her residence? Who are these men who seem to be following her? Will she have to choose between Patrick, who’s always been there for her, and handsome Jesse, who would do anything for her? 1950 will be a year of changes for Josie, but will she survive them?

Sepetys talks about how she came to write Out of the Easy here, in a 9 minutes interview. It's a fascinating clip:

Roomies

Zarr, Sara and Tara Altebrando. Roomies. 2013. 279p. ISBN 0316217492. FIC ZAR on the library shelves.

It is the summer after graduation, and Elizabeth, from New Jersey, and Lauren, from San Francisco, receive an email informing them they will be roommates at U.C. Berkeley for their upcoming freshman year.

Elizabeth, otherwise known as E.B., is an only child whose mother is single and always dating, and whose gay father left them when she was 5 and has been living in San Francisco, running an art gallery. Lauren is the oldest of six siblings, with the other five all under six years old. Her parents are loving and caring, but she’s always in the role of the third parent, taking care of her younger siblings and even sharing a room with two of them.

As they begin communicating together through email, E.B. and Lauren realize that they have much in common, but that they are also very different. Written from both perspective, each entry reads like a diary counting down the days before they move in together. Busy working, wrapping up friendships, meeting new boyfriends, and thinking about their hopes and dreams, both girls realize, through one email at a time, that they are more than friends. They are roommates. Unless the drama that plays out in their lives spills over and ruins everything….

Seraphina

Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina. 2012. 499 p. ISBN 978-0-375-86656-2. FIC HAR on the library shelves. This book has been nominated for a Flume Award in 2015.

For forty years the humans and dragons of Goredd have been co-existing in a fragile peace. Logical and rational, powerful but few, the dragons surrendered to the humans despite their winning on the field, and have been trying to learn anything they can about human culture and irrational emotions such as art and love. Being able to transform into humans, dragons still find it difficult to integrate human communities.

Seraphina is the daughter of a dragon mother and a human father. As a product of this union, she is an aberration and unwanted by either side, her left arm and back covered in scales. Living with her human father, Seraphina gains a position at court as the assistant court composer teaching Princess Grisselda, just as the crown prince is found decapitated, with evidence pointing to a dragon as the killer.

With the arrival of Ardmagar Comonot, general of the dragons and a large party of dragons, Seraphina finds herself trying to protect her secret while at the same time discover who, or what, is behind the prince’s murder and the plot to break the peace and start a new war with the dragons. And as if this is not enough, she’s falling for Prince Lucian Kiggs, the perceptive captain of the Queen’s Guard. Helped by her dragon teacher Orma, Seraphina’s investigation might uncover more than she bargains for.

If you really enjoyed this book, you will like A Turn of Light. Seraphina's story continues in Shadow Scale.

Wildflower

Whitaker, Alecia. Wildflower. 2014. 320p. ISBN 978-0316251389.

The Barrett family lost Caleb, their youngest, to a drowning. They began playing music to assuage their grief, and for many years now they have been on the road, playing country music around the country. Bird at 16 is the youngest, and she plays fiddle and backup vocals. When her father, their lead singer, falls sick one evening, Bird takes over for him. Her talent is recognized by a scout, and Bird is offered a contract. However, the contract is for a solo artist, not for a family band.

Complicating things are Bird’s relationship with Adam, her brothers’ friend, who also happens to be in a country artist on the same circuit as she is. She would like the relationship to progress, but recording an album and promoting it inevitably creates more problems than it resolves. And her relationship with her brothers Jacob and Dylan is also changing as the family band disintegrates.

Told in the first person from Bird’s perspective, Whitaker fully fleshes out her characters, and Bird’s rise to music stardom is well chronicled, providing an insider’s view of the music industry and some of the challenges musicians face trying to break in. Bird’s friendships and relationship with Adam and her family are respectful and wholesome, making this an appropriate read even for middle schoolers. The first in a series, Wildflower includes lyrics and sheet music for Bird’s hit.

While We Run

Healey, Karen. While We Run. 2014. 336p. ISBN 978-0316233828.

In the year 2127, Tegan and Abdi find themselves controlled by an Australian government bent on completing a starship. This starship houses Australia’s refugees, cryogenically frozen, who are to be sent to a distant space colony, thus ridding Australia of its immigrant problem. Tortured and mentally abused by their captors, the two manage to escape and reconnect with associates from the first book, When We Wake. Now on the run, they will do whatever they can to bring down the government and reveal its secret program, saving thousands of lives - and maybe their own.

Inevitable Mass Customized Learning: Learning in the Age of Empowerment

Schwahn, Charles & Beatrice McGarvey. Inevitable Mass Customized Learning: Learning in the Age of Empowerment. 2012. 231p. ISBN 978-1-4700-5905-7.

The industrial era of education, when 25 students were placed in one classroom with one teacher, was designed for the convenience of administrators, teachers, and parents, and not for that of the student. Before the information revolution, this system, though inadequate, met most learners’ needs. But with the arrival of customization thanks to platform such as Apple’s iTunes, Amazon, and eBay, it is not only possible, but advisable to move away from a late 19th century model of education into a 21st century model where the educational system is designed to allow every student to succeed at his or her own pace while meeting the same educational objectives.

Shawahn and McGarvey argue that today’s information infrastructure enables schools to personalize learning for every learner. Subjects that can be easily taught on computers need to be, so that teachers, now called learning facilitators, can focus on the interpersonal, social, civic, and foundational skills that cannot be taught online. Grade levels and seat times are things of the past. Each learner will now be expected to master eight to ten learning outcomes, all composed of sub-skills, during their educational careers, and demonstrate their acquisition of these learning outcomes through a portfolio. As learners progress, they move at their own pace and group with different learners.

Learners will take about 50% of their subjects online, attend seminars for more subjective classes, participate in labs and other hands-on activities, and plan their sport practices. The learner will be in charge of his or her own scheduling, in collaboration with parents and a guidance facilitators, and will be empowered to succeed on an individual course of learning. The age of mass customization is here, and it’s time for education to join the future.